A Fractured Feeling

Nexus Multicultural Arts Centre
Thurs 22 March
season closed


Leeni (played by Frankie Walker) is what many would see as a normal 20-something year old Arts student; and the opening scene finds her studying beneath a tree in the university gardens where she meets the groundskeeper, David (Kilment Poposki).

With the 360¼ stage setting quartered off by dark see through curtains, behind and all around our central character we see three other figures lurking omnipresent in the shadows as her and David's connection forms. One by one they present themselves in what initially could be seen as comical circumstances but as time and Leeni and David's relationship progresses the effect they have on the couple, Leeni's already troubled past with her mother, Felicity (Maria Fernandez) and her close friend, Bekky (Sophie Brabenec), becomes all too frightfully real.

Leeni suffers from dissociative identity disorder (DID) and in the deeper recesses of her mind lives the aggressive punk figure, Dramaturg (Shelley Burton), the child-like Charlotte (Justyna Kiczor) and the self-harming male personality of Kevin (Sean Mulcahy), and as more and more of Leeni's dysfunctional upbringing is revealed and her inner personalities violently vie for attention, the scarier this production becomes. 'A Fractured Feeling' is jarring in the sense that although the dialogue could be considered as formula, the actual portrayal and conflict of the condition was all too graphically real.

Thought provoking, compassionately told and above all, very unnerving theatre that should be commended for its innovative approach towards breaking down barriers concerning mental health issues.

Steve Jones